


Together

by DionysusCrisis



Category: Wandersong (Video Game)
Genre: Character Development, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Missing Scenes, brief description of a burn, the bard's name is Kiwi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:15:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22199221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DionysusCrisis/pseuds/DionysusCrisis
Summary: "But I am not giving up on you, Kiwi. I'm never giving up on you." Miriam lowered her broom so Kiwi could see the truth on her face. "When you're done being a giant sadsack, I'm going to come back for you, and we're going to keep saving the world together. Got it?"[Beefing up the scene after the Bard is defeated by the Hero in Queen Chaos's realm and filling in the gap between that moment and Chismest. Also, diving into Miriam's mind for a bit as she and Kiwi face the grim reality ahead.]
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	Together

This spirit world was NOT the one of Grandma Saphy's stories. Where there should have been the bright coral colors of Queen Chaos's sea, now there were only murky depths, bleak and suffocating.

But Miriam had suspected as much before she'd stepped through the veil. Something about the waterfall portal had seemed... off. She couldn't put her finger on it, but a few minutes after Kiwi had passed through to the Overseer’s domain (after their inevitable delays of chatting and singing and - ugh - hugging), something changed. The peaceful rumble of the waterfall suddenly turned ominous. The vibrant flowers of the island paradise dulled and drooped. The changes were nearly imperceptible, but Miriam was a sharp witch. She knew when something was up.

So she'd plied a path into the spirit world with her piccolo and quietly thanked Eya that her bard companion hadn't been there to witness her performance.

Where _was_ Kiwi, anyway?

The darkness of the collapsing spirit world seemed infinite, but Miriam reassured herself that it couldn't be. In fact, it was probably shrinking with every step she took. That was bad news framed as good news, she supposed.

Then she saw them.

Kiwi sprawled face-up on the floor, eyes closed, mouth slack.

"You're sleeping through this? Seriously?" Miriam grumbled. The dark world sucked up her voice, leaving no echo, no trace of it in the air. The effect was unsettling.

She pressed on. "Hey!"

The bard didn't react, and a cold prickle of doubt traveled up Miriam's spine. She spoke again, her voice less certain. "Hey..."

Kiwi's brow twitched. Miriam resented the amount of relief that sign of life gave her.

Apparently, she'd have to try a little harder to motivate them. Miriam glanced around the featureless landscape (seascape?) for any sign of the Overseer, Queen Chaos. A jagged shape that could only be the Queen's crown glowed softly several yards away, but the Queen herself was nowhere to be seen.

At Miriam's feet, Kiwi groaned softly, drawing her attention back to the situation at hand.

They needed to ditch this creepy ex-castle ASAP. No time to pull her punches. "Wake up!"

Miriam's exclamation did the trick. Kiwi's eyes flew open, staring in a panic at the void above for a few seconds before settling on Miriam. Something about Kiwi's face unnerved Miriam, so she deliberately turned away to scan the non-existent horizon.

"It looked like something went wrong, so I came," Miriam stated, eyes still averted. When Kiwi didn't respond, she chanced another look at them.

They weren't looking at her anymore. They stared sightlessly up at the nothingness again, eyes hollow and dim, completely silent.

"Um... Are you OK?" Miriam asked, a nauseous sensation stirring in her stomach. This felt wrong. All of it.

In an instant, tears appeared in Kiwi's still mostly vacant eyes. "No! I'm not the hero, Miriam... I'm not cool or strong or anything. And I thought I could save the world, but I can't."

Miriam kept her expression neutral. Kiwi continued.

"So I'm just gonna lie here... forever. And everyone will forget about me... And then the world's gonna end."

Miriam crossed her arms firmly across her chest to suppress the disorganized jumble of emotions rising within her.

"That's dumb," Miriam stated. "You're being really dumb. Nobody ever thought you were a hero anyway."

Kiwi winced. "That doesn't make me feel better at all!"

Miriam felt a pang of regret and noticed for the first time how Kiwi held their arm tight and close to their side. Even in the dark, Miriam made out the ragged, singed hole in their shirt. Just what the hell had happened here?

"I mean, that's not what's good about you! You're good because you're always all happy and singy," Miriam said. She heard the harsh edge in her voice... So hard to drop that layer of protection, but she had to try. One way or another, she needed to convince Kiwi that lying down and waiting for the end was a stupid idea, even for them. Unfortunately for her ego, going for authenticity seemed like the best approach.

"I wish I was like that. I'm grumpy and useless... You make everything better by being happy at it," she said.

But her confession fell on deaf ears.

"Well, I'm not happy now," Kiwi said.

Miriam tried not to take offense to having her rare moment of vulnerability ignored. Though she'd only known Kiwi for a relatively brief period of time, she thought she understood who they were. Kiwi was sunshine in a goofy handmade hat that brought a bottomless reserve of positivity to every town and port they'd visited by belting melodies, chatting with anyone who'd give them the time of day, and merrily involving themselves in a half dozen side quests while the fate of the universe was literally on the line.

It irritated Miriam, sure. And more than once, she'd found herself watching from the outside as Kiwi made friends and solved problems while she... While she what? Just stood there, grimacing?

Wasn't this supposed to be her adventure?

She didn't want to think about it. She was doing what she had to do. Of course she'd rather do it on her own... But maybe she couldn't. That cut her deep.

Whatever. The point was this: the Kiwi she was talking to now was not the same Kiwi she'd met, and as much as she hated to admit it, she missed that other Kiwi, obnoxious singing voice and all.

Kiwi interrupted her thoughts. "Even if we wanted to learn the Earthsong... we can't now that an Overseer is dead."

Oh. Well, she supposed that made sense. No sign of Queen Chaos after all, not to mention the all-around voidiness of her former castle.

The fine hairs on Miriam's arms lifted as a chill passed through her. The familiar touch of lingering spiritual energy, faint and wavering.

"Actually no," Miriam said, striding past Kiwi's prone body toward the crown she'd noticed before. "There's still something here."

"Something's... here?"

Over her shoulder, Miriam watched Kiwi struggle slowly to their feet. They managed to get upright, though apparently at considerable cost. They shuddered and hunched over, holding their arm protectively against their side and middle.

She'd have to take a look at that, or maybe have one of the pirates check Kiwi out once they were back in the real world. Trouble was, they had to get there first, and their job in the spirit world wasn't quite over.

Miriam cleared her throat. "Yeah, I dunno, all around here... there's some kind of spirit..."

She hoped she wasn't making this up. Maybe there was still a chance. Some sort of energy definitely radiated off of Queen Chaos's crown but calling it a fullblown "spirit" might be an exaggeration.

Miriam turned back toward Kiwi and tried not to cringe as they limped forward. She was struck again by the thought that this was not the same Kiwi who'd hopped on her broom in Langtree. This was that Kiwi's reflection through a broken mirror.

She couldn't stand it. She had to do something. Putting on her bravest face, she took a page from Kiwi's playbook of positivity.

"Come on, do your bardy thing and sing!"

Despite only taking a couple steps, Kiwi had to pause to catch their breath before hobbling a few feet closer to the oversized crown.

Time suddenly seemed of the essence.

"Come on. You can do it!" The words of encouragement felt so out of place in her mouth.

Kiwi lifted their head ever so slightly, their eyes trained on something floating above them, unseen. Miriam half expected them to pass out, but instead, they released a small, pitiful note.

Then another. A cycle of whisper-weak notes that didn't sound quite on key, rolling through the octave, creating a fluctuation in the air that rippled out like waves through the ocean.

It was subtle, but certain. Miriam allowed herself a moment of optimism as the spiritual energy she'd sensed before expanded and solidified.

Kiwi moved on, seeking another invisible point in the air. Miriam tapped her foot impatiently and was disappointed to discover that her shoe produced no sound. Nothing to distract from the bitten-back whimpers Kiwi produced when they had to straighten up to sing.

They went through the same cycle three more times, intensifying the wavelike texture of the air, somehow thickening it with a sound reminiscent of Grandma Saphy's singing bowls. The waves flowed through Miriam’s chest, buoying her heart.

Light abruptly sprang from the darkness and Miriam threw an arm in front of her face to shield her eyes. A ringing hum, the brief image of Kiwi backlit by the glowing teardrop symbol of Queen Chaos, then...

The waterfall. Solid ground. Tropical birds calling through the jungle. Blessed, soul-warming sunlight.

Miriam squinted down the canopied path they'd taken to reach the nexus point for their piratical companions.

Nothing. Had they seriously left? Like, they'd actually listened to her instructions to go on their merry way while she and Kiwi handled the Queen Chaos stuff?

Huh. First time for everything, she supposed.

But that meant...

Behind her, Kiwi sat with their back to a rock at the base of the falls, their eyes half open and their clothes disheveled.

Crap. Miriam had hoped to outsource Kiwi's care to the pirates. Caring wasn't her forte. Not only that, but she'd been more into learning flashy, aggressive spells and impressive power potions from her grandmother, not slow-going, detail-oriented healing ointments and incantations.

But she didn't have much of a choice here. They were alone on the island, with places to be, Overseers to visit, pieces of the Earthsong to compile.

Which reminded Miriam of the myriad of questions she had for Kiwi regarding just what in Eya's name had gone down before she showed up.

Miriam crouched next to Kiwi and waved a hand in front of their dazed face.

"Kiwi. Hey. You with me?"

Kiwi blinked and focused on Miriam. The tiniest, crookedest smile crossed their lips. "Miriam. I got it. The... the piece of the Earthsong..."

"Nice work. Mind if I check out... Whatever's going on there?" Miriam gestured at Kiwi's side.

Their sliver of a smile faded. "Oh."

Miriam waited for Kiwi to say something else. When they didn't, she rolled her eyes and reached for the edge of their shirt. "Right. I'm looking anyway."

She carefully lifted the scorched section of Kiwi's once-white blouse to reveal a branching array of angry red burns. She sucked a breath in through her teeth.

"What..." Miriam stilled the unexpected waver in her voice and tried again. "What happened to you?"

"She said she was the Hero," Kiwi said, their expression graying.

"Who did?"

"The person who..." Kiwi's voice caught. "... Killed the Overseer."

Miriam clenched her fist. "Real heroic. She did this to you, too?"

Kiwi nodded and flinched as Miriam let their shirt back down.

"There's not much I can do for those burns, especially not out here without a cauldron. There are a couple nexus points we could hit next, and I know at least one of them is near a city. Somebody more qualified than me can fix you up while I look for information on-"

"Why bother?"

Kiwi's interruption broke Miriam's thought process. "Come again?"

"The Hero's just going to keep killing Overseers."

"So what?" Miriam said. "Then you do your ghost-serenading thing just like you did today."

"No, Miriam, you don't get it," Kiwi said. They reached a hand toward their wound but seemed to think better of it. Instead, they redirected their hand to the brim of their hat and tilted it down, hiding their eyes. "It doesn't matter what we do. She's the Hero. This is the way it's supposed to be. She's going to kill all the Overseers and then the world's going to end, and that's fine by me."

Miriam bristled. "Well, it's NOT fine by ME. So stand up. We're going to the next nexus point."

Kiwi slumped even further. Miriam was about to raise her voice when she noticed the subtle shaking of their shoulders. They were crying.

"Ugh. Fine. I can't believe you're making me be the optimistic one," Miriam said. "We still have a mission. We can still learn the Earthsong. We can still save the world! I don't know about you, but to me, that sounds much more heroic than murdering Overseers and blasting people with... whatever she used to hurt you."

"Lightning sword," Kiwi mumbled.

"Yikes, seriously?" Miriam hated that the concept sounded kinda cool. She shook herself out of it. "Now get up. We have places to be."

Kiwi sighed so deeply that it looked like they might melt directly into the ground. To their credit, though, they started to push away from the rock they'd been sitting against... only to suddenly freeze up.

"You good?" Miriam asked.

"I, uh... I don't think..."

Miriam groaned and leaned down toward them, offering her arms for support. "Come on. I'll help."

She hauled Kiwi to their feet and looped their arm around her shoulder for extra stability. Based on Kiwi's swaying knees, they couldn't be trusted to stand on their own. Maybe finding a healer was a bigger priority than Miriam had originally thought. Or maybe Kiwi was just being a big, dramatic crybaby. Either way, the bard needed some pep back in their step pronto.

Miriam summoned her broom with her free hand. "OK, where to? What's going to de-mopeify you?"

Kiwi allowed Miriam to settle them on the back of her broom, wincing as they adjusted. "I don't know."

"Come on, Kiwi. Give me something to work with here."

Kiwi clung to Miriam as the broom lifted the pair a few feet above the ground. "Then I guess... I want to go home."

"Langtree? That's a lot of backtracking, but it would put us close to Grandma Saphy. I bet she knows a spell to soothe your little sunburn." Not to mention, a visit to her grandmother might soothe Miriam's own case of homesickness. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.

"No, not Langtree," Kiwi said. Their head rested against Miriam's back. "My mom's place. Chismest."

"OK, that could work," Miriam said, hiding her disappointment as best she could. "There should be a nexus point near there. I'll snoop for it while you-"

Kiwi cut her off with a small whimpering sound.

"Right. You're still all depressed and whatever," Miriam growled as she guided her broom above the tree line. "But at some point, we have to get back to work. The fate of the world is at stake, remember?"

Kiwi didn't respond.

Fine. If they wanted to travel in silence, Miriam would give them silence. Heck, it was an Eya-sent change of pace to pilot her broom without Kiwi's constant one-person chorus line threatening to deafen her.

For the first half an hour or so, Miriam enjoyed the quiet journey through the sky. The clouds were sparse against the brilliant blue, and far beneath her, sunlight danced and flashed off the surface of the ocean. Gulls cawed and floated lazily on warm updrafts. The wind in her face smelled of salt and vitality. She wondered why she hadn't spent more time exploring the sea, especially now that...

Well, now that the sea wasn't guaranteed.

Miriam fidgeted her fingers around the smooth wood of her broom handle. Why did everything suddenly seem so silent and cold? The sun still shone, the surf still hushed against the beaches below...

She shifted her shoulders, nudging Kiwi.

"Hey. You awake?" she asked, peeking back at her passenger.

Kiwi blinked groggily and grunted.

"Good. I think you should stay awake. Just so you don't fall off or something," Miriam suggested.

"I'm really, really tired, Miriam," Kiwi said, closing their eyes again.

"I know, but I'm not in the mood to rescue you from a freefall."

Kiwi rubbed their eyes and sat up a little, hissing softly when the motion pulled at their injury. Miriam focused her attention forward again to avoid a brief flash of guilt.

After a couple minutes, they spoke. "I don't think I can stay awake. I just want to sleep."

"Why don't you sing something? So you don't accidentally drift off?"

"I thought you didn't like that," Kiwi said. "All the singing stuff."

"I don't not like it," Miriam said with a shrug. "Look, I don't want to hold you up all the way to Chismest. Can't you just sing one of your weird little songs until we're close?"

Miriam felt Kiwi draw a deep breath, but the sound that came out failed to match the build-up. Kiwi sang in little more than a wobbling hum, barely loud enough to beat the breeze.

Better than nothing, Miriam supposed. Sad as the bard's broken voice sounded, at least it was recognizable. A familiar echo as Miriam steered them above an unfamiliar land.

Miriam identified Chismest by the brackish fog hanging above the city, a permanent stain on the air. Kiwi's mom really lived in this cold industrial nightmare? Miriam didn't know the woman, but judging by her offspring, this place couldn't be her jam.

Kiwi's voice faded out as Miriam lowered her broom into the lamplit streets. Night had fallen as fast and dark as a curtain and the queasy artificial lighting did little to cut through the darkness.

"Where am I headed?" Miriam asked as they coasted above the empty sidewalks.

Kiwi pointed toward a building with a rare splash of color in the form of a tiny window garden by its door. Miriam gently parked her broom in front of the narrow home and dismounted.

Before she could offer a hand, Kiwi followed suit, awkwardly shifting themself off the end of the broom and grasping it for a few uncertain seconds as their legs adjusted to holding their weight again.

"You gonna be alright?" Miriam asked as Kiwi released their hold and stood on their own.

Kiwi nodded without looking at her.

"Good. Get some rest," Miriam said. "And fix that frown! It's just... not right on your face."

Kiwi hugged their arms around their torso, somehow making themself look even smaller.

"Are you... not going to stay?"

Miriam hesitated before answering. "No, not tonight. I should start working on the Overseer song."

Kiwi lowered their head. "Oh. I guess... I guess I'll see you around, then."

"Yeah," Miriam said. She climbed back on her broom - livelier under her touch now that it carried only one passenger - and drifted upward.

"Miriam, wait."

She paused just out of reach of the streetlamps, forcing Kiwi to squint into the darkness to read her expression.

"Thank you for coming in after me. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't," Kiwi said.

"You would have been fine."

Kiwi shook their head. "No, I don't think I would have. And I wouldn't have even tried to get the piece of the Earthsong. That was all you."

Miriam tightened her hold on the broom. "Don't get used to it. I'll be back to being worthless in no time."

"Miriam, stop!"

The act of raising their voice must have aggravated their wound because they flinched and quieted for a few seconds before continuing.

"You said something like that when we were in the spirit world, and I should have spoken up then, and I'm sorry that I didn't. I don't like hearing you say those things about yourself. They're not true."

Inexplicably, Miriam's temper flared. "No. You don't get to lecture me about my attitude when you've been about as enthusiastic as a wet sock all day. What do you think it feels like to watch you give up on the biggest, most important quest of our lives? Don't you understand how scary that is? Our world is dying, and I'm terrified that even if we do everything we can to stop it, it won't be enough. I was afraid of that even before crazy lightning sword lady showed up to wreck your ego."

Kiwi cringed at the memory.

"But I am not giving up on you, Kiwi. I'm never giving up on you." Miriam lowered her broom so Kiwi could see the truth on her face. "When you're done being a giant sadsack, I'm going to come back for you, and we're going to keep saving the world together. Got it?"

Kiwi nodded, but Miriam sensed the gesture was empty. Fine. She'd give them some time to work it out.

"OK. Goodnight, Kiwi," she said. "I'll see you soon."

Before Kiwi could reply, Miriam shot away into the smog-choked night sky. She coughed away the noxious fumes and forced her broom higher and higher until she could taste sweet, clean air once more.

Alone with the moon, Miriam could finally let out the ugly sob she'd been resisting for hours.

It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. If the world truly was mere millimeters from obliteration, shouldn't she be home with her grandma? Shouldn't she be making the most of her final days instead of pep-talking a relative stranger?

Except Kiwi wasn't a stranger. In fact, the strange little bard was the closest thing Miriam had to a friend, and that fact made her want to kick herself.

She'd told them the truth. She wasn't giving up on Kiwi, and not just because the planet's survival hung in the balance.

She wasn't giving up on Kiwi because she knew with perfect certainty that Kiwi would never give up on her, and she needed that more than she needed color, more than she needed music, more than she needed the cerulean sea or the crackle of her own magic.

So she'd give them space, but not too much. She'd carried them this far. She could manage a little further.

They'd do the same for her.

Miriam wiped the hot tears from her face, straightened her spine, and descended back into the city as the first spinning snowflakes fell.

She had work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> 2019 was the most painful year of my life, and I am eternally grateful for the friends who carried me through it. Be kind to your loved ones, and shine for them when you can. You have the power to save their worlds.


End file.
